Traffic congestion is one of the most concerning problems in major cities both in developed and developing countries worldwide, including Da Nang.

Nguyen Van Linh street is one of the city’s traffic congestion hotspots

Although in Da Nang the problem is not as bad as in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, it has recently occurred during rush hours along some of Da Nang’s main streets, such as Nguyen Van Linh, Nguyen Tri Phuong, Le Duan, Hung Vuong and Hoang Dieu.

Over recent years, the city has focused on speeding up the development of its road transport infrastructure.  Nevertheless, since 2015, traffic congestion has been increasing in the city.  The main reason seems to be that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of personal vehicles, plus a rise in the number of tourist coaches.  In addition, the illegal encroachment of trading activities onto the pavements of some local streets has forced pedestrians to spill onto the roads.  Also, most local departments, agencies and private businesses operate to the same working hours, which creates the rush hours which badly affect the movement of traffic. 

According to calculations made by local relevant agencies, the average annual growth rate of Da Nang’s traffic is about 15%.  Currently, the city has a population of over 1 million people, with around 715,000 registered motorcycles and over 54,000 cars.  These figures do not include the vehicles from other localities operating in the city.

The figures show that the number of personal vehicles in the city accounts for over 80% of the city’s total, which is far higher than in many of the large cities elsewhere in the worldwide, including Paris, New York, Berlin, Tokyo and Shanghai.  This suggest that personal vehicle ownership is one of the important causes of traffic congestion in this city.  Perhaps this stems from the fact that most other major cities, such as those named above, have extensive public transport systems which reduce the need for private vehicles.

People waiting at traffic lights

According to a research conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Da Nang should upgrade its transport infrastructure and apply synchronous solutions to ease traffic congestion in order to prevent future possible bad traffic situations as are currently occurring in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.  Top priority should be given to developing a project to enhance the management of personal vehicles to ease traffic congestion in the city.

JICA highlighted the necessity to find the best solutions to reduce traffic congestion because this problem negatively impacts on the daily lives of local citizens.  In particular, traffic congestion causes an increase in travel time, fuel consumption costs, gas emissions and noise pollution, as well as a decline in the quality of the urban living environment, and it restricts the city’s economic growth.   

In the light of all this, the DA NANG Newspaper has opened a forum to discuss what to do and how to reduce the number of personal vehicles in the inner city.  The aim is to collect opinions and creative ideas from our readers to help the city authorities introduce measures to ease traffic congestion in the years ahead. 

We welcome your comments, suggestions and detailed solutions to help the city deal with the problem.  Any opinions, comments and suggestions should be sent to the Economics Department of the DA NANG Newspaper at 3 Le Duan in Hai Chau District, or via the email address kinhtebdn@gmail.com.